Saturday 2nd May 2009, 00:08A land of possibilitiesEveryday at A4e we are trying to find new ways of Improving Peoples Lives. Everyday we look at different models, different clients, different places where we can bring our energy and passion to help a person, a family or a community. Some of the heroes in A4e for me are the people who take our service and vision to a whole new place, Sally with young people, Jon and Andy with Financial Inclusion, Liton with Legal Services, Andrew and Kate with our services to people who have been on long term Incapacity Benefit and David working in Prisons. Taking the vi..View Complete Post Friday 1st May 2009, 23:32I am sorryOver the last few weeks we have had feedback from some of our clients that our service has missed the mark. Some of our clients have felt we have not lived up to the Improving Peoples Lives values we set ourselves. Some of the feedback has been direct to our staff and the company but more disappointing is that some of our clients have felt unable to approach us directly about concerns they have regarding our service. To let customers down is bad enough but to have our clients feeling they could not approach us..View Complete Post Thursday 16th April 2009, 22:33Susan Boyle
I hope you had the chance to catch the new series of Britain’s Got Talent, which started this weekend. I missed it but was able to catch the amazing performance of Susan Boyle on You Tube.
As she sat in the waiting room she talked with the p..View Complete Post Thursday 9th April 2009, 18:01Slumdog Millionaire Recently I managed to catch a viewing of Slumdog Millionaire. It is a brilliant film, haunting and filled with real life insights from the world of the slums in Mumbai. The story of a Mumbai teen who grew u..View Complete Post Tuesday 7th April 2009, 20:32HopeI have spent this week meeting unemployed people, employers and government officials who are looking for creative and innovative solution to growing the economy and creating wealth and sustainable employment. Interestingly there was no talk of recession, no talk of credit crunch, no blame for invisible politicians; no this week has been full of people talking of hope. They talk of hope that their time has come, hope that that can see the corner turning and finally daylight at the end of the tunnel.
Unemployed people have explained the hopes they have to work, to make a contribution .. View Complete Post Tuesday 31st March 2009, 17:03South Africa Social Enterprise of the YearI had the honour to attend the Nelson Mandela Promise of Leadership conference in Johannesburg this week. It was an amazing event with inputs from leading figures from around the world. The Promise of Leadership conference wanted to give the leaders of South Africa the opportunity to focus on the leadership that can flow from Mandela’s legacy to take South Africa into the future. What have we learnt? What can we take forward? What the seeds that we can plant now to grow leadership trees of the future?
For me there were four key issues from the conference.
• The voice of the young people..View Complete Post Tuesday 17th March 2009, 21:07Recession Steals Children’s HeroesThere are, I believe some basic rules in life. Children like sweets and Disney films. Football teams should always win home games. Only grandmas like the brown meat on a turkey leg at Christmas, and top of my list is that children need and deserve heroes/heroines.
Every child needs a hero to look up to and that hero should be mum and/or dad. It’s not much to ask, being a child can be a lonely and vulnerable place to be. Yes there are lots of good things out there for children these days but without a hero it can seem like a very lonely and fearsome world. That’s why children have .. View Complete Post Wednesday 7th January 2009, 12:40My Dad's Tobacco Tin and the Credit CrunchMy Dad’s tobacco tin and the credit crunch
Many years ago when I was about 10 years old, all my friends had bikes. They all had the best 10 gear racers you could buy. Actually they didn’t but it just felt that they did if you were 10 years old. I suppose in reality one or two of my friends had a sporty bike and the rest of us had hand me downs, cherished hand me downs but still hand me downs.
After lots of pressure and many nudges the day came when my dad took me out one day to buy a new bike. It wasn’t a new, new bike but it would be new to m.. View Complete Post Tuesday 9th December 2008, 01:14The lesson of the dummiesI have the pleasure of being the chair of governors at the school my children attend. It is a great privilege to be able to support the staff and leadership team as they ensure these children get the very best start in life. This weekend was the school Christmas Fair and Father Christmas was our most important guest. We were thrilled he was able to spare a few hours to meet the children and learn what they would like for Christmas and whether they had been good boys and girls for the last year. I had the honour to help Father Christmas in some of his tasks as he had so many children to meet. <..View Complete Post Thursday 20th November 2008, 03:18Oh how we laughed...........These are tough times. And I don’t believe the people who say it will all be ok, we can carry on as we always have done. Or the change affects those over there, not me. We are entering a period of significant change. And it will be bumpy. What can we learn from the past;
“But we have always done it this way” said the captain as his ship went down.
The paraffin lamp poked fun at the gas fitters digging up the road, making all that mess for nothing.
How we laughed at Walt when he talked of a whole new world of animation, we guessed he had bee..View Complete Post Monday 17th November 2008, 00:42The loss of a hero I spent last week in South Africa. You can’t help but feel the sense of expectation as this country, the hope of Africa, starts to make the transition to a new government next year. I have been so impressed by the people I have met, all sharing as single vision for the future. This great nation stands tall in Africa but the burden of expectation hangs heavy.
After all of my meetings had finished on Tuesday I decided to take a walk to clear my head. The weather was warm, ahead was a mighty thunder storm which would light up the skies all evening. I found myself catching a coff..View Complete Post Monday 17th November 2008, 00:40The Inspire Kamlangjai Project Last year I had an invitation to visit Bangkok. During my visit I took the chance to visit I heard about an amazing project that was taking place in the Thai prisons. The project is led by Princess Bajrakitiyabha who as a law student visited a Bangkok and was shocked by what she saw. She developed a very simple vision for what she wanted.
Kamlangjai is ….
A thought from afar
A shoulder to lean on
A helping hand
Knowing that everything’s not lost
At the heart of the project is a real commitment from the whole community to find a..View Complete Post Monday 3rd November 2008, 15:29How a telescope helped me see things the same. It was my birthday last month and my children watched excitedly as I opened my birthday present. It was a large box (so no chocolate) it did not smell (so not aftershave) and it was too big to be a pair of socks.
Finally when I was able to rip off all the wrappers my gift was revealed. A telescope. I had always thought it would be great to be able to gaze at the stars through a telescope. But as I grew older I figured I would never get round to space exploration. I had always admired Sir Patrick Moore when I watched him on “Sky at Night”. I rarely understood what he was..View Complete Post Wednesday 1st October 2008, 00:31Overcoming PovertyOvercoming Poverty
Don’t you just love it when somebody says something in a few simple words which you have been grappling with for years? For 20 years I have been trying to say to people I met that expecting unemployed people to get a job is not a penalty, it should not be a hardship. I tried to explain in long paragraphs with few full stops that when we are seeking to support somebody back into work we see it as an enrichment of social justice, not a punishment of that person. I gave speeches as people’s eyes glazed over as I wax.. View Complete Post Tuesday 30th September 2008, 00:40RomaRoma
Earlier this year I was invited to give a speech at the World Bank in Washington, USA. It was a great honour as I have a deep respect for the work of the World Bank and the impact they have in the most remote and desperate parts of the world. After the speech I had the chance to meet and discuss issues with many of the people who attended, they explained their areas of work, their perspectives on international best practice and their personal goals for the next few years.
There was one person who told me about the plight of the Roma people. A proud group who are ex..View Complete Post Thursday 25th September 2008, 02:27Celebrating Vishwakarma DivasCelebrating Vishwakarma Divas
Last week I had the honour of speaking at the Global Skills Conference in Delhi called “Celebrating Vishwakarma Divas
When I had the chance to look this up on Google I discovered that the 17th of September is the celebration of Lord Vishwakarma Diva who is the god of electricians, carpenters, plumbers, builders, metal workers etc. This day in India is recognised as National Labour Day. One this day the craftsman of India, clean their workshops, they decorate their vans and wear their smartest overalls to celebrate Lord Vishwakarma Div..View Complete Post Thursday 25th September 2008, 01:16Growth for AllGrowth for All
Today I was in Poland working with Kasia (congratulations on the wedding last month) to develop the new contracts we have won and looking for new ways to provide more opportunities to help those out of work in Poland. As we bounced ideas around we received an invitation to form a group as part of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce to drive new strategy around the human capital agenda.
Kasia asked me what should be the subject around which we form the group I launched into my soap box about;
• Wanting those furthest away from the labour mark..View Complete Post Thursday 25th September 2008, 01:15Eye to EyeEye to Eye
As we move through life we make decisions every day about the way we choose to interact with each other. I do it everyday, almost unknowingly communicating my interest, mood, attitude, excitement, stress level or tiredness.
When I am the one moving through life, it is my choice with whom I care to make eye contact, and who I choose to let pass by. I choose to pick up or throw away each person I pass.
However, as a consumer, as someone in need, as someone nervous, intimidated, disempowered, at the end of my tether, alone, disenfranchised it is me b..View Complete Post Sunday 20th July 2008, 23:09The Secret behind the Dinner SuitMany years ago I was invited to an awards ceremony in Kirby, Liverpool. At the event I was asked to make the presentations to the successful NVQ students who had achieved their qualification.
As I arrived at the council hall on a very run down estate on a cold wet and windy November evening I was greeted by a smiling man in his fifties wearing a full dinner jacket and bow tie. The man opened the door and showed me to the hall where the presentations would take place. I must admit I was a little taken aback as on my many visits to Kirby I had not been greeted by a man in a dinner su..View Complete Post Friday 18th July 2008, 22:21Feed BackI gets lots of feedback to the blogs, thank you to everyone who sends me some feedback or an idea, and I thought it would be good to share this email I had today from Michael Burger who is doing some amazing stuff in our Offender Management Team.
Many thanks Michael for doing what you do everyday and for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights. Any more budding bloggers out there?
Thanks Roy
Dear Roy
Following your most recent Blog entry, I just thought I’d tell you about an event I attended the other evening.
I was invited by Lo.. View Complete Post |
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